Bill C-10: Tories go for the bait and switch

By Tim McSorley, October 7, 2008 Comments (0)

Vote Culture protest held in Ottawa on Sept. 24. Photo by Ming Wu. Used under Creative Commons

The Conservatives came out with their election platform today, and they couldn't help but include a nugget for artists, what with all their complainin' and protestin' at their fancy-dancy TV galas.

As reported on CTV.ca:

"The platform also makes changes to controversial tax eligibility legislation for film projects, which had been passed in the House of Commons as part of a larger omnibus bill. The changes allowed government to have the final say on which projects qualified for the exemption, and many in the arts community said it was tantamount to censorship."

That's right, Bill C-10 is toast. So television and film producers will be able to continue to rely on the very necessary post-production tax credits provided by Revenue Canada without the worry of government censorship.

As both CTV and the National Post point out, the move is obviously an attempt to quell all the ruckus over the fact that Stephen Harper and the Conservatives hate art, or at least publicly funded art. Or hate to publicly fund art (particularly art they disagree with).

In any case, it means that $45 million is still missing from arts funding ($60 million if you count the nixed New Media funds). So while maybe Young People Fucking will still get tax credits, Holy Fuck will still be stuck at home, and anyone who cares about the arts should still vote ABC.

More on Bill C-10:

Big City Mayors Bash Bill C-10
Bill C-10 will protect Canadians from funding Porn. Like the porn industry needs Tax Credits.
Bill will yank funding from "offensive" film
Harper should cut his hair, not film funding
Jack Layton weighs in on Bill C-10
An open letter to Prime Minister Harper